Due the size of modern wireless networks, it has become difficult to plan, monitor, manage, and troubleshoot the system as a whole as well as the individual radio frequency (RF) elements. For example, radio frequency identification (RFID) systems have achieved wide popularity in a number of applications, as they provide a cost-effective way to track the location of a large number of assets in real time. In large-scale application such as warehouses, retail spaces, and the like, many types of tags may exist in the environment. Likewise, multiple types of readers, such as RFID readers, active tag readers, 802.11 tag readers, Zigbee tag readers, etc., are typically distributed throughout the space in the form of entryway readers, conveyer-belt readers, mobile readers, etc., and may be linked by network controller switches and the like.
Similarly, there has been a dramatic increase in demand for mobile connectivity solutions utilizing various wireless components and wireless local area networks (WLANs). This generally involves the use of wireless access points that communicate with mobile devices using one or more RF channels (e.g., in accordance with one or more of the IEEE 802.11 standards).
The number of mobile units and associated access ports, as well as the number of RFID readers and associated antennae, can be very large in an enterprise. As the number of components increases, the management and configuration of those components becomes complicated and time-consuming.
For example, it is not unusual for assets to have multiple attached RFID tags. These tags each may be of a different type—i.e., active, passive, or semi-active. In many cases, these tags will share a single tag ID, which is associated with the particular asset. Since a warehouse, office building, or other such location may have many different RFID readers distributed throughout the environment, and since these RFID readers may have overlapping ranges and multiple antennas, it is not uncommon to generate (and send over the network) voluminous tag information associated with the location of assets—some of which may be contradictory. For example, a passive tag on an asset may be read by an RFID reader in the same room where the asset resides, while an active tag on the same asset may be read by an RFID reader (e.g., an access port of 802.11 device) in the next room or even upstairs. Any enterprise applications trying to reconcile this locationing information will have great difficulty in determining where the asset is actually located.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide improved methods and systems for determining the location of assets in environments where multiple tags may be used on a single asset, and those tags may be read by a number of readers. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.